Life In The Pandemic
The original lockdown in a way was helpful we were all forced to learn about our own area, and that is something that my wife and I did. Having lived in Sawtry for six years it gave us a chance to discover the footpaths around us.
Being something of an amateur naturalist and also a photographer it gave us great pleasure taking the walk toward Little Gidding through the fields and past the farm. We noticed as the seasons changed the crops growing larger in the fields, the Cow Parsley growing higher and the other flowers growing well. Walking through Aversley Wood always delights us, as so much happens there. Seeing Bluebells, hearing the birds and seeing Peacock butterflies as they appear in the Spring. In fact, it is the birds that keeps us sane, on the walk towards Gidding we notice that through the Spring the birdsong changes from the first Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs to hearing Whitethroat a lot of them singing on this path from the Hawthorns.
I would imagine that nature has got a lot of people through the last year and like other people we travelled to places when we were allowed in the summer and early autumn when restrictions were lifted. In the Summer I managed to graduate from my Environmental Science course with an HND. This course has helped me look at our local area in a different way and we still enjoy our walks, at the moment less birds singing and very wet!
Being out of work during this lockdown does have its challenges especially as I cannot travel to places to photograph wildlife and places, but again it is about finding new walks and awaiting the Spring with the birds and butterflies and the warmth of the sun. This is what gets me through lockdown.
Story and Photo's sent by Doug Woodward (www.dougwoodwardphotography.co.uk)